


Welcome Back

by strangerthingswasntthatgood



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Hogwarts Eighth Year, M/M, Short Chapters, not edited, unedited
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-06-30 14:43:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15753810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strangerthingswasntthatgood/pseuds/strangerthingswasntthatgood
Summary: Voldemort somhow finds out about that one, little lie of Draco's. When he has to return to Hogwarts not even a year later, he finds himself having to share his dorm with not only Ronald Weasley, but also the famous Harry Potter.Also, please accept this but there probably won't be another chapter for a while because I got a new idea.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> They call Voldemort Tom because I can't deal with how edgy The Dark Lord is.

Screams echoed through the building. At first, Draco didn’t recognize them as his own, but the pained expression on his mother’s face told him differently. Bellatrix stood right next to Narcissa with a wide grin. And the man he was absolutely terrified of stood right in front of him. If Bellatrix had looked mean, it was nothing compared to Voldemort. His eyes shone with something Draco couldn’t place.

“Please, Tom…” Narcissa whispered in the back, when the screams stopped. Sweat dropped from Draco’s forehead as he twisted from his back to his side. He curled up in a small ball, perhaps to make himself as small as possible or maybe to try to shut the pain out.

“He deserves it, Narcissa.” Bellatrix said in a hushed voice. Draco could hear the smile in her voice, however weird that sounded. Voldemort only said one word.

“ _Crucio_.”

This time Narcissa screamed. Bellatrix held her back and if Draco hadn’t been unable to speak, he would have told Bellatrix to step back. No one, _no one_ , was supposed to hurt his family. That was why he did this, wasn’t it? His family.

“Tom!” Narcissa screamed, but the only thing Draco could hear was the loud ringing. It must have been the pain, because no one else seemed to notice it. His head felt as if it was about to blow up and he was sure his limbs would be torn from his body. Nothing would ever explain the pain he felt. He would have grabbed something, _anything_ , to keep him sane, but there was nothing to grab.

The pain didn’t stop, but it did fade. While it still felt as if his whole body was on fire, he no longer wanted to die to escape the pain. He had just pushed himself up on his hands, when he felt hands on his shoulders. He recognized them as his mother’s.

“Narcissa”, Voldemort’s voice was low, yet strict. “Step aside.”

The hands on Draco’s shoulders were pulled away and Draco listened as his mother spoke.

“No.”

“Mom”, Draco mumbled and tried to get up, but fell back against the floor. He let out a huff in pain. “Mom, it’s okay.”

Another spell was cast in the room. His mother’s scream filled the room, but was cut in half when Draco quickly moved in front of his mother.

“Stop.” Draco gasped, one arm wrapped around himself to keep himself up. Voldemort's face had twisted from a smile to a frown, but Draco could only think of his mother.

The room was quiet for a second. Bellatrix looked baffled, but not angry. 

“Did you know it was Harry Potter, Draco?” His words were clear and he spoke slowly, as if he spoke to a child. A child who had been wrong.

“Yes.”

“ _CRUCIO_.”


	2. Chapter 2

Harry woke with a loud gasp. He rubbed his head and was surprised to feel a different pain then the one that often clung to his head. This, this was a headache. This wasn’t the scar.

“Harry, darling?” Mrs Weasley stood in the door with a smile. “It’s time to wake up.”

Mrs Weasley had always been a very proud woman, but since she had lost one of her twins, she wasn’t the same. She was worn in a way that had nothing to do with her age. Harry watched as she stepped outside the room. Ron was nowhere to be found, so Harry quickly pulled a shirt and a pair of pants on. Today was the day, then. First day of his last year at Hogwarts.

He walked down stairs and smiled when he saw Ginny. She was just as beautiful as she always was, but things hadn’t exactly worked out. Harry couldn’t tell her nearly all of the things she wished to know. He couldn’t even find the answers for himself, sometimes, and she still grieved her brother.

“Hello, Harry.” George sat by the table and ate a sandwich. “It’s good to see you. Ron told us you came lat night.”

Harry only nodded. It wasn’t fair to say that Mrs Weasley was the only one that was worn after the war. The whole Weasley family had changed. Harry didn’t know the older Weasley siblings as well as he knew the younger ones, but he could see the change in everyone’s faces. In the back of his head, in that little box he only allowed himself to unlock when he was all alone, he had stored the thoughts of how all of this was his fault. Maybe, just maybe, Fred would have been alive if Harry hadn’t been Ron’s friend.

“Come on now, Harry. Sit, you need to eat before we take you to the train.” Mrs Weasley placed a plate in front of an empty chair and Harry sat. He rubbed the side of his face with a sigh.

Everyone continued to eat in silence. Ginny left the table soon after Harry had sat, but George still sat by the table when Harry hurried upstairs to pack the rest of his things. His trunk was almost heavier this time than it had ever been, but no one else seemed to notice. It was weird to not have Hedwig with him, but it was okay. Harry had accepted the loss by now. He had loved the bird, but it was the loss that hurt the least.

Once in the car, Ron sat in the middle. Ginny had stayed away from the car until the two of the boys got inside, probably to avoid sitting next to Harry. It made his already bad day worse.

“Last year at Hogwarts, how does it feel?” Mr Weasley smiled, but the smile never reached his eyes. Ron said something, as Harry turned to have a look out the window. Yes, perhaps everyone had been okay if it hadn’t been for him.

“Stop thinking like that.” Ginny muttered. Ron looked confused for a second, before he turned to Harry, as if to ask what she talked about. She was his ex, of course she knew what his silence meant.

“It’s true.”

“It’s not.” Ginny replied and the rest of the car ride was silent.

  
  


Draco sat alone on the train. He had wrapped his jacket around his shoulders and all he wanted was some sleep. The train compartment was cozy and he had enough space to feel… alone. He hadn’t wanted to go, but his mother insisted. Of course.

A knock on the door had Draco snapped from his little fantasy. He glanced over and saw Harry Potter and the Weasley he always spent time with behind the glass. Draco turned away, but couldn’t help but to turn towards Harry and Ron, was it?, as soon as the door opened.

“I don’t want…” Draco began, but Harry held up a hand.

“It’s here or outside. It’s full everywhere else.”

Draco nodded and turned to have another look out the window. He could see Harry’s reflection in the glass, but Draco tried not to think too much about it. Even though it had been a year, the memory of  _ that _ evening was still as fresh as Dumbledore’s face when he fell to his death. Some thing just never go away. 

Draco listened to Harry and Ron chat. It was annoying, but it was nice not to have to say anything.

When the conversation came to an end ten minutes later, Draco glanced towards the other two. They sat in front of him, Harry stared out the window and The Weasley kid checked his wand.

“I’m gonna go see if I can find Hermione.” Ron said, finally, and stood. He waved awkwardly and soon left. 

The compartment was quiet. It was weirdly quiet and the silence was awkward, but Draco didn’t have anything to say. After  _ that  _ time, Draco had decided he wasn’t going to have anything to do with the famous Harry Potter.

“Malfoy?” Harry spoke, but Draco pretended as if he hadn’t heard him.  “Draco!”

Draco jerked back and turned towards Harry. The scar was visible through Harry’s thick hair and Draco honestly thought it was beautiful. His dark complection and the white, thin scar that looked like a lightning bolt. 

Draco quickly turned away. He already knew all of this bullshit, he knew what the scar looked like and he knew about Harry’s skin and nothing really fucking mattered.

“Draco, can you please listen to me?” Harry sounded a little more desperate than he had before.

“I don’t have anything to say to you.” Draco mumbled. The thought of the pain… the worse pain he had ever felt, made him turn away from Harry again.

“I wanted to thank you. For what you did to me.” Harry spoke slowly. Draco didn’t know why and he wasn’t going to ask why.

“Fine.” Draco replied and stood, when the Weasley kid came back. He had the muggleborn with him and Draco honestly couldn't listen to their talking. Instead, he soon found himself with Pansy. He had wanted to avoid her this year, but he figured this would be better than Potter and his friends.


	3. Chapter 3

When they arrived to Hogwarts, Draco had thought they’d go back to their common rooms and their houses and that everything would be like it was the years before, but it wasn’t. McGonagall had all the eighth year students sleep in the Room of Requirements. Rooms of four, girls and boys seperated. They still had their houses, but it wasn’t like before. They all shared a common room and they had classes together. See, there weren’t a lot that had come back, but after everything that had happened last year, Draco couldn’t stay home. He wanted to be a healer, he’d have to work for it. Besides, his mother had really wanted him to go.

“I think this is your room, Draco.” Pansy said and gave him his suit jacket. Draco read the names on the door.

 

_ John Gallagher _

_ Draco Malfoy _

_ Harry Potter _

_ Ronald Weasley _

 

Draco knew Potter and Weasley, of course. Gallagher, on the other hand, was a name he couldn’t place. He figured he might have seen him in class sometime, but Draco wasn’t sure. He opened the door and waved Pansy off, too tired to stay and talk to her.

The room was a small, circular one with windows on Draco’s right side. The walls were painted in a light yellow colour and the curtains on the beds were light blue. The beds seemed to be made of the same material as the beds had in their own dorms. Their old dorms. Whatever. It did look cozy, if Draco pretended that Harry and Weasley didn’t sit on one of the beds. They seemed to be playing chess, but had stopped when Draco walked inside.

“Malfoy.” Harry greeted, but didn’t move. Draco let the door slip close behind him and walked to the bed where his things had been left. He looked for his toothbrush and a pair of pyjamas.

Gallagher was a Hufflepuff, as it turned out. He was a quiet and reserved man, who only was in their dorm five minutes before he went to bed and long enough to get dressed in the morning. Harry and Ron usually spent their time in the common room with Hermione, but Draco hid in their bedroom. He was often curled up in bed with a book, with little to none of the grace he had shown people earlier years. While he once had combed his hair and worn suits, he now did his best to disappear. He went to classes in their assigned uniform and stayed in the back. He no longer went to their quidditch classes, McGonagall had been more than okay with it, and spent the extra time in the library.

 

In the early years of Hogwarts, nothing had really changed. This year was much different. The eighth year students shared a table, rather than sitting with the other students. Draco felt very left out, but he understood. They had been in the middle of it all. Of course, many of the younger students had, too, but Draco knew the ones that didn’t fight had taken care of all the younger students in one of the common rooms, to make sure the kids were safe. The older students sat with them once in a while, spoke to them about the war and everything they had lost. When that happened, Draco made sure to leave. He was guilty, after all.

A student in his last year sat right next to him one morning. Draco didn’t look up from his copy of  _ The Daily Prophet _ , but was slightly bothered by how the man sat far too close.

“Can we see it?” the seventh year asked and Draco quickly glanced up from the text he had been reading.

“Sorry?”

A silence fell in the Great Hall. Draco knew it was coming, but he had hoped people wouldn’t be so… forward about it. It was obvious what the students in the hall waited for.

Draco closed his paper and folded it, carefully sticking it under his arm as he stood.

“Maybe some other time.” Draco mumbled and hurried to leave, without finishing his breakfast. He wasn’t so hungry anymore. On his way out, he ran into Granger. She looked tired and her hair had been pulled up in a bun. It was a pretty strange sight.

“Oh, Malfoy?” she asked and turned around just as they passed each other. He  _ really _ didn’t feel like talking to her. All the things he had done to her flashed before him. He had been an absolute asshole, mostly to get his father’s approval. It wasn’t an excuse, though. Draco knew that much.

“Yes?” he asked, as he stopped and turned towards her, just to see if there was anything important she had to say. She smiled.

“It’s good to see you again.”

 


	4. Chapter Four

Potions and Defense Against The Dark Arts was the classes Draco looked forward to the most. Potions and Quidditch had always been his favorites, but since he came back he couldn’t even go down to the Quidditch field. In a way, it felt as if he didn’t deserve such lighthearted entertainment.

They had assigned seats in potions and it felt as if they were right back in their first year. They had been told it was because of the things that had happened last year. Draco sat right next to Weasley. Pansy sat a table away from them and Draco didn’t know the two students in front of him. Harry Potter sat together with his friend Granger.

Their teacher wasn’t Snape, but at least he didn’t favorise Draco. That way he really could disappear in class. He did what he was supposed to do and then he either went to the library or the Room of Requirements. He had lunch either early or late, to make sure he didn’t run into anyone he didn’t want to talk to. It quickly became routine, just like everything else. 

Pansy often sat with other Slytherins, these days. Draco stayed away from them and it seemed like most of the Slytherins really had changed their looks on muggle borns and pure bloods. Or they didn’t say anything about it, Draco didn’t know which it was. To his surprise, Myrtle left her toilet once in a while to find him. They often spoke and shared their feelings. 

Nearly a month passed before Draco and Harry said anything besides “hello” and “good night” to each other.

Draco sat on his bed with his pyjamas on, as well as his wand lit. He scribbled down a letter he had wanted to write all day, but hadn’t found the time for. He was going to send it to his mother, of course. He stopped only when he heard Harry’s bed squeek and then how said man let out a small gasp.

Draco carefully pulled the curtains from his bed and stuck his head out. Harry sat on his bed, with his legs thrown over the edge of the bed. His toes touched the floor. Just when Draco was about to tuck his head back inside and pretend as if he hadn’t seen anything, Harry glanced up from the floor and met Draco’s eyes.

“You’re awake?” Harry sounded surprised. Draco nodded slowly and pulled the curtains away to have a better look at Harry. He looked paler than usually and the scar shone in the light from Draco’s wand.

“Are you okay?” Draco asked and glanced over to see if the rest of the dorm were asleep. He had listened to their snores for hours and wasn’t surprised to see that they still were.

Draco watched as Harry shook his head. It was strange to be this close to Harry and that Harry probably was… honest with him. They hadn’t spoken for weeks and now they were honest with each other?

Harry smiled a little when Draco didn’t reply.

“Why are you awake, then?” Harry asked and Draco glanced away. He wasn’t sure what to reply to that. He didn’t know how to express how scared he was, most of the time.

“I couldn’t sleep.” Draco replied, at last. Harry’s eyebrows rose and Draco couldn’t help but to laugh. He wasn’t happy, it was more of an empty laugh.

“I can’t sleep, most of the time. Before Severus… Snape died, he brew me… Nevermind.” Draco shook his head again and glanced away. He listened to Harry standing and sitting down on Draco’s bed, much like he had seen Weasley and Harry sit together the first day.

“Secret for a secret?” Harry asked and carefully took the book from Draco’s hands. Harry seemed to check for the page, then closed the door and put it away. Draco let out a small sigh, but nodded.

“Fine.”

Draco remained quiet, as he waited for Harry to speak.

“How’s your parents?”

Draco glanced up from where he had watched his hands. Harry looked curious and Draco honestly didn’t like it much. But then again, Draco had agreed. He cleared his throat.

“I don’t know about dad”, Draco confessed quietly. “Mom’s not doing too good.”

Silence fell in the room again. Harry watched Draco and he felt… exposed, in a way he hadn’t since Voldemort had watched him. This wasn’t the same, though. When Voldemort was around, it felt as if he knew every single thing that Draco thought and every single thing Draco had and hadn’t done. Now, on the other hand, it felt as if Harry could see through him.

“Who do you miss the most?” Draco asked, finally. It was Harry’s time to sigh and twist uncomfortably.

“Sirius.”

Draco only nodded. He had met Sirius once when he was just born, but Draco didn’t remember it. He only knew the things his parents had told him about Black. It was the same with many of his distant relatives. The ones that didn’t think like his father hadn’t been seen as family.

“Why did you join him?”

The words pulled Draco back to reality. Harry still watched him. The answer would be more than one secret, Draco knew that.

“Long version or short version?” Draco asked. He might as well tell the other, it wasn’t as if people weren’t going to find out. If it happened now or in ten years, that didn’t really matter.

“Long version?” Harry asked and Draco watched as the other made himself comfortable on the bed.

“For my family, mostly. I wanted to make dad proud, you know? I wanted him to see me as the son he had wished for, not the one he’d have to kill in front of…  _ him _ . And my mom… Well,  _ he  _ told me he’d hurt her. That I did have a choice, but it wasn’t a choice of joining him or not. I either joined him with both my parents alive, or I’d join him when my mother was buried.”

Draco stopped for only a second and he watched as Harry tried to find something to say. Draco held up one of his hands, as if to stop him.

“That’s not all. I knew he’d kill you, no matter what. I made him promise he would ask the Hogwarts students to join him before he killed them. He promised he wouldn’t kill him if they joined him. They wouldn’t have it as easy as the ones that had joined him years before, of course, but they’d… survive. My dad screwed up, if I joined he wouldn’t kill him. Bella… I can’t even explain Bellatrix… She’d hate me forever if I didn’t...”

Harry interrupted.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me more than that.”

Draco only nodded. He was so caught up in the things that had made him become a Death Eater that he had forgotten he had spoken to someone. Harry looked pale and tired and Draco reached out to pull Harry’s glasses off.

“You should probably sleep, Potter.”

Harry smiled.

“You wish, Malfoy.”


	5. A/N

Hey yo i really don't know where i was going with this so i might write more but im not sure yet. i'd very much like to finish one of my other fics first, please be patient. thank you


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